Eugene weekly., April 30, 2009, Page 13, Image 13

marijuana to other, non-card-carrying
individuals — sometimes right in front of
Sajo, who is himself a certifi ed medical
marijuana grower.
The main difference between SB 388 and
I-28 is that — while both deal primarily with
the supply side of the issue — the former
purports to protect patients by tweaking
OMMA with better-defi ned controls on
marijuana growers and distribution, while
the latter argues for the creation of a non-
profi t dispensary system that acts as a
regulated middleman between patients and
growers. Both claim to clean up corruption:
the one, SB 388, by tightening the one-to-
one correspondence between patient and
supplier; the other, I-28, by modeling the
system on controlled but consumer-driven
economics.
Sajo says that the real issue driving new
legislation, however, is the “inability of the
Oregon Legislature to get a handle on the
medical marijuana issue.” He says that,
unlike every other form of commerce in a
capitalist society, “medical marijuana is all
supposed to be done without the exchange
of money,” which he says is absurd.
Even more absurd, Sajo says, is creating a
one-to-one correspondence where individual
patients are dependent on a single grower and
his or her schedule, harvest and reliability.
Here he offers a poignant analogy: “It's
insane ... if we tried to do food like that in
this country, half the people would starve.”
What I-28 would create, Sajo says, is a
“supply system where patients can go get
their medicine” in the form of a nonprofi t
dispensary operating on the model of a
regulated free market economy. A sort of
sliding-scale system would be implemented
for more needy or destitute patients, with
some even receiving free medicine, while
other patients would pay what the market
demands. This system, Sajo adds, would be
subject to controls such as inspections and
health standards, and a 10 percent tax on
sales would fund the overall program.
“A farmer who's good at growing
marijuana shouldn't be limited to growing
for four patients,” Sajo says. “They should
be encouraged to grow for as many as they
can.” Under I-28, which so far has collected
some 35,000 signatures, a grower would pay
$1,000 for a license and would be equally
subjected to zoning and inspections.
Jim Greig, a long-standing medical
marijuana advocate who suffers from a
debilitating from of arthritis that keeps him
all but bedridden, calls I-28 “as close to
perfect as we're going to get”— at least until
the federal government gets past the “bold-
faced lie” of giving marijuana the same
controlled substance scheduling as heroin.
“What other prescription drug do you need
to get a hundred dollar permit to carry it?”
Greig asks rhetorically.
For Greig, every existing problem with
medical marijuana legislation starts at the
federal level, and the only solution, he adds,
is education, which would challenge the
ridiculously outdated “Reefer Madness”
mentality and politicized fear tactics of the
War on Drugs while also alerting the public
to the substantial and ever-increasing amount
of scientifi c data that proves the medicinal
properties of cannabis. “Decisions are
supposed to be made on scientifi c fact, not
ideologies,” Greig says.
Collateral damage
C.J., a 50-year-old Eugene native, applied
this year for his fi rst card to hold medical
marijuana, which he uses to ease pain and
relive the symptoms of nausea. With a long
list of health problems — resulting primarily
from a head injury and including the removal
of his pituitary gland — C.J. says he fi nds
it frustrating that the federal government
doesn't recognize marijuana as a “legitimate
medication.”
Having found the synthetic THC
substitute Marinol a poor substitute — “All
it did was give me bloodshot eyes and dry my
eye sockets out” — C.J. says he considers
himself a kind of collateral damage of the
War on Drugs, which he calls “a conspiracy
against the American people.”
At this point, he said, with the growth of
privatized prisons and a vast apparatus built
up to combat illegal drugs, the only people
truly profi ting from drug prohibition are
criminals, the government and terrorist cells
being funded by the trade in Afghanistan
opium. As for the U.S. and its current
policies, “They're feeding the machine
they're fi ghting against,” C.J. says. “It's a
conspiracy.”
Koozer of WV-NORML also supports the
dispensary initiative, though he says the larger
issue here is individual liberty and complete
decriminalization. “It's a freedom issue,” he
says, “your right to be able to do what you
want with your body and your life.”
Echoing the sentiments of so many
others involved in the movement to
legalize marijuana, whether for medical
or recreational use, Koozer admits he's
sometimes discouraged by all the competing
voices out there and the infi ghting
among organizations. “There is so much
dysfunctionality within the movement,
it's extremely frustrating,” he says, adding
that improving the public perception, and
misperception, of the movement is an
“ongoing problem.”
“We're always trying to improve our
credibility,” Koozer says. “It's more than
just getting high. It's more about rope than
dope. We just keep trying to plead with
people to come together and work together.
The problem is, we're just preaching to the
choir.”
All this over a plant. As Koozer puts it:
“Why don't we all get behind something
that's really nasty, like poison oak?”
A new optimism
Nonetheless, many folks involved in the
current push for new legislation express an
optimism, albeit cautious, about both the
near and distant future, which some have
called brighter for the election of Barack
Obama — or the ejection of Bush ideology,
however one cares to view it.
“Now is a good time to take medical
cannabis issues to the people because they are
ahead of the politicians,” Johnson of Voter
Power says, citing recent polls that found 63
percent of Oregon voters supporting OMMA
and, more specifi cally, 59 percent supporting
I-28. And, he says, “the people are learning
the truth across the nation,” pointing to
recent cannabis reform laws passed in both
Michigan and Massachusetts.
Despite the fact that “our program is
under attack every legislative session,”
Greig says he is feeling optimistic about the
success of I-28 in Oregon. “We got an early
enough start,” he says.
“Things are really looking up,” says
Wade of SRCF. “In the federal government
we'll see some sort of federal legislation here
in a couple of years. Once we kind of get
through this [current legislative session],
I have a feeling polices are going to
change.”
ew
Find more information and stories about marijuana and its
impact on people with health issues in our online version of
this story at www.eugeneweekly.com
A Proclamation
Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy has signed a proclamation declaring the week of April 30
to May 6 as “Medical Marijuana Awareness Week” in Eugene.
The proclamation notes that currently 25,000 patients and more than 2,900
doctors participate in Oregon’s medical marijuana program and that “Pre-
clinical and clinical trials indicate that cannabinoids are useful in controlling
Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, chronic pain, diabetes, GI disorders, hepatitis C,
multiple sclerosis, osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis and sleep apnea.”
The document concludes: “Marijuana has a history of thousands of years of
safe use without any recorded deaths attributed to its use, and all citizens deserve the
right to know the truth about cannabis.”
“Forest Biomass” Forum II:
Debunking Wildfi re Hysteria
a free public forum sponsored by: Eco Advocates (eco-advocates.org),
Many Rivers Group Sierra Club & SustainEugene.org
featuring: George Wuerthner, ecologist & editor of “Wildfi re: A Century of Failed Forest Policy”
Wednesday, May 6 @ 7 pm
Harris Hall (8th & Oak), Eugene
Learn about the timber industry’s plan to log our public land native forests
- under the guise of “wildfi re risk reduction” - and market trees as a “green,
renewable” source for electricity and liquid fuels, aka “forest biomass.”
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EUGENE WEEKLY APRIL 30, 2009 13